Welcome to Eye On Franchising, where we delve into the world of franchising and uncover the secrets to starting your own successful business. In this episode, we have a special guest, Danessa Itaya, the president of Bio-One, a crime scene and trauma cleanup franchise. Danessa shares her valuable experience in the franchising industry and how she got her start. But it's not just about her journey - we dive deep into the benefits of franchising and how it can empower individuals to become their own boss with the support and guidance they need. What sets this episode apart is Danessa's unwavering motivation to build teams and help people venture into entrepreneurship. She has worked with renowned brands like Molly Maid and Service Brands International, and even created her own residential cleaning brand based on the Master franchise concept. Franchising doesn't just offer an opportunity to start a business; it allows you to build your own empire with a small investment. Lance Graulich is a shining example of this. Starting in the cleaning industry, he transitioned into property management, showcasing the growth and success of the franchises he worked with. But it's not all about business success; it's about making a difference in people's lives. Bio-One specializes in crime scene and trauma cleanup, providing a much-needed service during the most challenging times. Their commitment to supporting families and restoring homes quickly has earned them outstanding reviews. If you're considering franchising, you'll learn about the investment required, various funding options, and the training process. The podcast also explores the importance of validation and meeting current franchisees to make an informed decision. Marketing strategies, recurring revenue, and the power of referral partners are also discussed. We'll uncover the secrets to successful franchising, from networking to embracing new programs and software. Join us as we explore the strength of franchising, the power of collaboration, and the joy of seeing franchisees thrive. Special thanks to our guest, Danessa Itaya, President of Bio-One, for sharing her insights. Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe to Eye On Franchising for more valuable content. - Introduction: Benefits of franchising and speaker's experience in the industry - Motivation in building up teams and helping people start businesses - Career highlights and creating a residential cleaning brand - Building a business empire with a small investment - Lance Graulich's journey in the cleaning and property management industry - Bio-One's specialization in crime scene and trauma cleanup - Importance of helping people and supporting the community - Business model and positive reviews of Bio-One's services - Targeting first responders and individuals with law enforcement or military backgrounds as franchisees - Investment required and funding options for starting a biohazard cleanup business - Territory and marketing strategies - Training process for franchisees in a cleaning business - Franchise disclosure and meeting the team and current franchisees - Importance of recurring revenue and referral partners - Digital marketing and local marketing strategies - Following the franchise model and adopting new programs - Successful franchisees consistently market their businesses - Active engagement with the franchise network leads to higher success - Support, best practices, and guidance from experienced franchisees - Importance of strategic growth and implementation of technology - Building relationships and learning from successful franchise owners --- Have you heard the news? We are officially on YouTube. Come check out a few videos have have and give me a follow! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwoAdrkPZmveJt5AQRDk8WA --- Lance Graulich Franchise Consulting Services from ION Franchising Eye On Franchising
Welcome to Eye On Franchising, where we delve into the world of franchising and uncover the secrets to starting your own successful business. In this episode, we have a special guest, Danessa Itaya, the president of Bio-One, a crime scene and trauma cleanup franchise.
Danessa shares her valuable experience in the franchising industry and how she got her start. But it's not just about her journey - we dive deep into the benefits of franchising and how it can empower individuals to become their own boss with the support and guidance they need.
What sets this episode apart is Danessa's unwavering motivation to build teams and help people venture into entrepreneurship. She has worked with renowned brands like Molly Maid and Service Brands International, and even created her own residential cleaning brand based on the Master franchise concept.
Franchising doesn't just offer an opportunity to start a business; it allows you to build your own empire with a small investment. Lance Graulich is a shining example of this. Starting in the cleaning industry, he transitioned into property management, showcasing the growth and success of the franchises he worked with.
But it's not all about business success; it's about making a difference in people's lives. Bio-One specializes in crime scene and trauma cleanup, providing a much-needed service during the most challenging times. Their commitment to supporting families and restoring homes quickly has earned them outstanding reviews.
If you're considering franchising, you'll learn about the investment required, various funding options, and the training process. The podcast also explores the importance of validation and meeting current franchisees to make an informed decision.
Marketing strategies, recurring revenue, and the power of referral partners are also discussed. We'll uncover the secrets to successful franchising, from networking to embracing new programs and software.
Join us as we explore the strength of franchising, the power of collaboration, and the joy of seeing franchisees thrive. Special thanks to our guest, Danessa Itaya, President of Bio-One, for sharing her insights. Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe to Eye On Franchising for more valuable content.
- Introduction: Benefits of franchising and speaker's experience in the industry
- Motivation in building up teams and helping people start businesses
- Career highlights and creating a residential cleaning brand
- Building a business empire with a small investment
- Lance Graulich's journey in the cleaning and property management industry
- Bio-One's specialization in crime scene and trauma cleanup
- Importance of helping people and supporting the community
- Business model and positive reviews of Bio-One's services
- Targeting first responders and individuals with law enforcement or military backgrounds as franchisees
- Investment required and funding options for starting a biohazard cleanup business
- Territory and marketing strategies
- Training process for franchisees in a cleaning business
- Franchise disclosure and meeting the team and current franchisees
- Importance of recurring revenue and referral partners
- Digital marketing and local marketing strategies
- Following the franchise model and adopting new programs
- Successful franchisees consistently market their businesses
- Active engagement with the franchise network leads to higher success
- Support, best practices, and guidance from experienced franchisees
- Importance of strategic growth and implementation of technology
- Building relationships and learning from successful franchise owners
---
Have you heard the news? We are officially on YouTube. Come check out a few videos have have and give me a follow!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwoAdrkPZmveJt5AQRDk8WA
---
Franchise Consulting Services from ION Franchising
Danessa 00:00:00
Lance Graulich 00:00:02 Welcome to Eye on Franchising. Are you looking for business opportunities? Well, you are in the right place. We represent over 650 franchises and business opportunities. We will help you find your perfect franchise for free. We even have a free assessment on our website that will help us determine what the best businesses for you based on your investment level mindset, skill set, and life experiences. This is Eye on Franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise future. I'm your host, Lance Graulich. Each week we will speak to fascinating folks from the world of franchising, franchisors and founders, franchise funders, and franchisees. Are you looking to find your perfect franchise? Or perhaps you are an independent business owner looking to grow and scale your business by setting up a franchise. Either way, our team can help you Eye on Franchising, where you will learn the A to Z's of franchise. Hello everyone, and welcome back to another fabulous episode of Eye on Franchising. I'm, your host, Lance Graulich. And, today you know, we got a woman here. This lady is phenomenal. Talk about women in franchising. She has been in franchising a long time. We're going to hear about that. And she's super young. You know, the riches are in the niches. We've talked about that before. So the riches are in the niches and she is cleaning up in the world of franchising. Welcome, my friend Danessa Itaya. Welcome, Danessa. Hi.
Danessa 00:01:43 Welcome. Hey, it's nice to be here.
Lance Graulich 00:01:45 Well, thank you for being here. And Danessa, you are president of Bio-One, and you are cleaning up because it is certainly a crime scene and trauma cleanup franchise. And, it's exciting. Talk about a niche. So how the heck did you get into the world of franchising in the first place?
Danessa 00:02:08 We talk about how long I've been in franchising, and one, it makes me feel old. And, two, I'm going to have to start backing that number down and just saying 25 years. Plus, I don't want anybody to figure out how old I am.
Lance Graulich 00:02:21 You're going to knock it down? Yeah. I've been in the workplace, ten years now.
Danessa 00:02:27 Ten years, I think just like everybody else in Franchising, or most people in Franchising, you fall into it by accident. I applied for an accounting assistant job, when I worked,for Molly Made, which was then just one single brand. And I got into that and learned that there's actually a whole world here, that I could learn. The concept of helping put people into business is pretty awesome, I think a lot of times people say, well, Danessa, how come you don't own ten franchises? And I tell them, hey, that's not why I do this. For me, it's a different motivator it's a different why. For me, I love building up teams. I like building up brands, and helping people get into business for themselves. And so, it's what I've done, I've done everything from starting out and entering royalty reports into the system and getting really good at the ten key to now, being able to lead and guide brands and help them continue to grow and be able to reach, that brand name awareness and dominate the local market.
Lance Graulich 00:03:44 Love it. Give us the highlights of your career from Molly Maid, and just give us those, little highlights there.
Danessa 00:03:53 Absolutely. So, like we talked about, it's been a bit, started out with Molly Maid. Molly Maid continued to grow, add additional brands, ended up with, about six, seven brands, became Service Brands International. I was there for about 19 years, so really just an amazing opportunity to be able to learn all different aspects, everything from operations to HR, to the legal aspect of things. heading up our franchise compliance department. And then, about 19 years into that, I got a phone call from a recruiter who said, hey, we would love to have you come and create a, residential cleaning model based on the Master, franchise concept of Jam Pro. The Janitorial model and the ability to kind of take all of your knowledge and start from scratch is kind of like a dream come true. I mean, how often do you get to be backed by someone else, use someone else's dollars to create a brand new brand, but bringing something different to the industry? So I did that for about five years. the brand was then sold. We actually awarded about 40 Master franchise concepts. it was pretty exciting. It was fun, being able to help put people into business who are more your cleaners. The people who come in and, have 510 grand to invest and want to grow a big business for themselves and their family.
Lance Graulich 00:05:27 Let's talk about that, because, look, everybody thinks of McDonald's when they think of franchising, and if you have a few bucks, there is a franchise out there for you. And like you said, people that were cleaning can get in with 510 grand, and then all of a sudden, they could build their own little empire. Right?
Danessa 00:05:47 Yeah. When you're working with, people like that, they are so passionate, they are so hardworking, and they're doing this to get their whole family involved. And so being able to see these folks come in, and maybe they're cleaning at night, or maybe they start with one team, and over the span of a couple of years, they're supervising and they're continuing to build their business and they're marketing their local markets.
Lance Graulich 00:06:20 It's fun to see that the technicians that become the true love it.
Danessa 00:06:26 Yeah. Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:06:27 And then from there, where'd you go?
Danessa 00:06:29 So from, uh, moved, um, we moved the family from Atlanta, Georgia, to Salt Lake City. And so, I started with a company called, Property Management, Inc. So little bit stepping away a little bit from the cleaning, but amazingly, that still follows. in property management, you're, looking at everything from managing short term, long term, HOA management, there, and really be able it was a neat opportunity to help them build. I think when I started, there's, about 160 franchises. When I left, we were just shy. We were just knocking on the door of about 400. So building that, it's interesting because home services and property management, it's recession resistant. Right? So with that, things like COVID and things like economy downturns don't impact those industries. So the ability to continue to grow through that provide a business model for people that they're not reliant on. How good is the economy?
Lance Graulich 00:07:33 I just, just saw my friends from PMI Property Management, Inc. At our fran serve conference, in Florida, in Orlando, another great franchise. So then what what happened after?
Danessa 00:07:46 Yeah, yeah. So then I decided to take some time know, I took about five months off, and I feel like that's an opportunity that everybody should have is just to kind of do a reset the sabbatical. Right. My parents teased me. They're like, what are you doing? Are you eating bon bonds and watching daytime TV now? And I said, I'm doing a couple of things off my checking off a couple of things off my bucket list. I'm spending time with my kids that are getting ready. I have a, son who is getting ready to graduate from high school. And so being able to really just take that time and spend it with them was really and then gosh, it's probably been about six months now. then I joined a five star franchising, with Bio-One.
Lance Graulich 00:08:35
Danessa 00:08:37 It'S been a great six months.
Lance Graulich 00:08:39 That's awesome. So tell us about Bio-One. Did I, describe it well enough? Crime scene cleanup, trauma cleanup. People listening are like, what is Lance talking about? What is that? And who would do know?
Danessa 00:08:54 It's interesting because that's naturally one, there are a couple things I've learned with this brand. As soon as you walk into the room and you tell people what you do, people are immediately you are immediately, if you weren't already, the most important person in that room. Everybody wants to know. We all love true crime. They want to hear about what we see and what we've cleaned up. I think that's one aspect of it. We've all become true crime fans and love hearing about the unique stories and that component. But the interesting thing when you talk to our franchisees is the reason why they get into this business is for the people aspect of it. Nobody wakes up in the morning saying, hey, I'm going to go and clean up the stuff that nobody ever wants to clean up. That's not what they're doing but we find that, um, majority of our franchisees, they're in it to help people to be able to give back to the community to be able to help people on the worst day of their life. That has been a really interesting component that I think sometimes gets overlooked just because the sensationalism of, hey, what's going on? Hey, we saw your truck over there, or, hey, what do you know? And we've helped in some of these big, the, MGM and I'm.
Lance Graulich 00:10:13 In Las Vegas, the Harvest Festival. Yes. I know that the few franchisees in Las Vegas, plus some out of state franchisees, came in to help and support. It was a huge job and it's terrible, but it's something that needs to get done. And the typical cleaning franchises, commercial, residential, are not typically doing any kind of crime scene cleanup. And you have the special suits and you have the special chemicals or green chemicals, I should say. So, udescribe that piece a little bit. You get paid by insurance companies for.
Danessa 00:10:51 The most part, right? Absolutely. So when we look at our business model, we kind of divide it into three categories. Primarily is the BioWork. So, it's the crime scene trauma cleaning. we call them unattended deaths. And so that's about a third of our business. And we love that work because we are we're working with insurance carriers. We're able to assure families that, hey, our goal is to get you back into your home as quickly as possible. I think when you look at our reviews, everybody promotes their reviews and home services. Your reviews can be all over the right. But for for our industry, it's really interesting. I mean, majority of our reviews are five star and it's not uncommon to see, I mean, I would say in most of them, you see a name referenced. Joe came out and helped us. Brian got us back into our and so, so you look at that, you recognize that it's very much a people business. So that's about a third of our business. another third is hoarding cleaning again, when you're going into cleans like that, you do need people who are hazmat suit. You've got the right products. We know how to clean, we know how to disinfect, we know how to remove things from the home that need to be removed. And then the last third is what we call, it's a funny term because I feel like it's all gross filth, but we call it gross filth. And so that's things like rodent odor, remediation coming in after maybe you had a bat infestation in your attic, and so you need that cleaned up. And so we'll come in and clean up things like that. Rodent, PCs, things like that.
Lance Graulich 00:12:43 Got it. And I know from the past, because I've done a lot of business with BIOone through franchising in the past. And you're a newer president. I mean, you've joined in January of this year. Is that so? The next leg of the expansion, so to speak. They bring in the heavy hitters, so to speak, the experienced executive. So who is it? I know from the past, people that are incredibly empathetic, like first responders are great franchisees, and even hospitality folks like, I come from the restaurant industry. Anybody that's truly empathetic, that loves working with people, would be great for this franchise. Correct?
Danessa 00:13:28 that's exactly it. It's really interesting when we look at the demographic of who we've brought on, it is very much targeting first responders. Anyone with any kind of law enforcement background. We have, former military, they've seen a lot and they recognize the the when we go to shows. And we actually work closely with the FBI and law enforcement. And one of the things we regularly hear, you know, when I'm ready to retire, I'm calling you guys. I love it. They know that it's a need. They know that, it's a good business model, but more than anything, they understand as you talk to, maybe victims families, they say, hey, we didn't even know a company like this existed. And uh, so we're thankful that you guys could come in and within a matter of hours we're able to be back in our home and taking care.
Lance Graulich 00:14:29 Of our I mean, and again, this is a need. This isn't uh, any kind of want. This is something that has to get done. And unfortunately, Grandpa Joe by himself might pass, like you mentioned earlier, unattended death. And thankfully, homeowners insurance is paying for these things, most of the know. So, investment wise, what does it run these days? How big are the territories? Talk about that a little bit.
Danessa 00:14:58 Yeah, absolutely. So investment, we're looking at uh, generally between 150,000 and being able to get kind of your first three, six months, into the business there. We look at territory, it's unique. It's hard to pull data on how many suicides are hoarding cleans, things like that. And so with it, and we look at it and we base it on population and we say a population of 500,000 is what we're looking at for a service area there. We recognize that most of our work comes from referral partners. And so with that, we don't tie people to a specific territory because we know that that business is going to come from all over. We work with victim advocate groups, or some of these nonprofits local communities we do a lot of, tent, city cleanups, things like that. that's not necessarily territory specific.
Lance Graulich 00:16:04 Got you. And when you mentioned the investment that includes some sort of working capital, the franchise fee, probably lease, payment on a truck, wrapping a vehicle, all that good stuff, right?
Danessa 00:16:17 Correct.
Lance Graulich 00:16:18 Got you. most people these days, I'm sure, are still doing SBA loans or rollover business startup loans from their 401, things like that.
Danessa 00:16:27 Right? That's absolutely what we're seeing. And we've got some folks that we work closely with that will work with our candidates as they're determining 401K, SBA, those opportunities.
Lance Graulich 00:16:43 So talk about marketing a little bit. So you find the right individual and we'll talk about the process in a second and how that works. But you find the right individual and they go into training. So let's talk about training first. What does that consist of? Yeah, ah, nobody's cleaned up crime scenes for a living, I'm sure, prior to this, right.
Danessa 00:17:05 And there's so many things to train right there's the physical aspect of it, as well as the marketing, and then the local requirements for training. So our training consists of a couple of different options but predominantly we're based in Denver and so they come to our office here and they'll do a week long training. But prior to that, from the time that they sign their franchise agreements, we take them through a six week onboarding course. So it's getting things like bloodborne pathogen test, things like those done before. They come to what we call our bots training, our Bio-One training system. And so once they've completed that, they'll come to Denver here and train out of our office. And we'll do five days of training. then the other requirement we have is they also have to do some OSHA training as well. you can only imagine the importance of having the right PPE and understanding cleaning products and the agents that we use, especially with some of thes cleans that we're performing here.
Lance Graulich 00:18:21 I was attempting to remember my acronyms, occupational, OSHA's occupational Safety and Health Administration. I think a government agency, right?
Danessa 00:18:32 And so it's not something that we get to determine. And so we bring in an OSHA trainer, and then they'll do that for three days and then they're ready to go home and open their business as they add additional components to the business, like drug remediation. Obviously, Fentanyl is in the news with that. Very highly skilled training is needed there for not only just use of cleaning agents, but also just how to handle it and how to make sure your staff and your team is well protected and managing any kind of remediation, whether it's Meth or Fentanyl. Huge education, huge education there and then same thing with mold, water remediation, uthere are specific training programs that they can elect into.
Lance Graulich 00:19:29 Love it. So let's talk about the process and then we'll jump into marketing. So when a broker, franchise broker consultant like myself refers somebody to you, or somebody just stumbles upon your website through creative Google searches, get me out of this job I hate, what should I be doing? Buy a one and they get into your process. I always tell people, it's like dating. You go on a coffee date first and then it gets more serious as you go if you like each other. So as you get into the process, they'll get a copy of your franchise disclosure document and there's some sort of validation. So take us through the highlights of that process.
Danessa 00:20:10 Absolutely. So one of the things, just like you talked about, it's very much dating for us. We also are very protective of our culture and who we bring in and making sure that it's a good fit it's a ten year contract. That's longer than some marriages these days.
Lance Graulich 00:20:28 Most marriages, yes.
Danessa 00:20:31 And so being able to, make sure that we're partnering up and mutually evaluating each other. So they'll work very closely with one of our team members and just kind of taking them through the process, educating them, reviewing the franchise disclosure document, introducing them to our team. We are part of five star franchising. And so in addition to meeting our Buya one team, they'll also have the opportunity to meet some of our five star leadership as well, because, they're a key piece of who we are we take them through that process, they join, what we call owner calls, which are validation calls. And, they can join as many of those. We have them regularly scheduled on one day a week, and they have the opportunity to ask questions, ask the franchisees. I tell people all the time, I've got a presentation, I'm happy to talk to you. But really what you want to know is you want to hear it from the franchisee, you want to hear what they're doing, you want to hear their pain points. I can give you numbers all day long if you want, but you don't want them from me, you want them from the franchisee. That's who's really going to be able to, give you some good detail there. so they go through that process. We have what we call a meet the team day. So, like a discovery day. And so, the beauty of I think one of the things that came out of COVID is our ability to do more of that virtually. And we've kind of stuck with know, we like doing meet the team days virtually gives everybody a little bit more flexibility. They're not having to take a couple of days out of their life to fly to Denver and, spend time with us. But that meet the team day is so critical because that's where we are doing a lot of mutual evaluation. They've learned about our model at that point in time. They understand a little bit about what we're about and how this model is driven. But then they're evaluating, hey, is this a team that I see myself being able to work with? And we look at that and we say, hey, is this a, candidate for us that fits in with our culture and with, our core values. it's been fun to be able to have those conversations. And we tell people all the time, this business is not for everyone we do things that most people don't even dream of doing. And so making sure that our core values are aligned there is important.
Lance Graulich 00:23:13 Love it. So, let's talk about the marketing aspect. So people get out of training and how do you really launch? I mean, the obvious, I'm sure, like, I always love to talk about local store marketing or local marketing. Getting it out to your community and giving everybody every religious organization, hospital, in your case, your business card, I would imagine. What else?
Danessa 00:23:36 Yeah, for us, because majority of our repeat revenue, you think in this business, how do you have recurring revenue? But it's coming from referral partners. And so with that heavy. I think, like everybody else, people say, well, gosh, does digital marketing really apply to a brand like yours? Absolutely, it does. It absolutely, is important not only to feed the Google beast, I mean, we've got to make sure that there's plenty of content that they understand what we do, that we're a 24/7 service here. But the ability to be able to find out what are people saying about us, depending on what their need is being able, to, have that conversation and get that information. But for, us, it's also heavy, heavy local boots on the ground marketing. We tell our franchisees that networking piece is critical. And so teaching them before you leave training with us, you're going to have a list of 20 businesses, whether they're residential cleaning businesses, that you're going to go and say, hey, who do you refer your hoarding cleans to? Because residential cleaning in Molly made we referred those all day long. Our ladies were not prepared to clean things like that. They're not suited up to be able to do that. So being able to identify and develop those relationships, whether it's police departments, victim advocate groups, hospitals, property managers, all of those, and then setting them up on a regular schedule of going back and spending some time with them and participating in the coffee with cops, I was.
Lance Graulich 00:25:25 Going to say drop them, some donuts.
Danessa 00:25:27 Absolutely. And we bring the canine units a treat. Being able to really make sure that you're tied to your community is a big piece. And that's the difference we see in our franchisees who are successful, who are, doing the things and growing consistently is they've built a solid network.
Lance Graulich 00:25:50 Love it. So now, if I was going to ask you, I mean, you have 100 and something.
Danessa 00:25:55 How many franchisees these days got 132 franchisees?
Lance Graulich 00:25:59 So if I was going to ask you about the top ten best, making a lot of money, franchisees that are happier than heck, what do they really have in common?
Danessa 00:26:12 Yeah, it's a great question. And we get this well, thank you all the time. A couple of things. One, is that they follow the model. They are following the model. When we roll out new programs, they adopt those programs. when we roll out new software, they adopt the software, because they recognize it's going to help them be more efficient. It's going to help them add capacity and scale their businesses. Number two is they are consistently marketing. Marketing is such a key role. And I've got a franchisee who's one of our million dollar businesses, and he says, listen. He goes, I don't ever want to get out of the suit because I can sell while I'm in the suit. I'm working with that customer. I am able to have those discussions with them. and to be able to I'm just always selling while I'm out on the job. Uh, again, that component of you're always selling, whether you're at networking groups, or in your community, or your son's baseball game, whatever it is, you're always representing the brand. And then the third component is they're actively engaged with the franchise network. it's hard when you get people who join a network, but they don't take advantage of reaching out to their neighbor and sharing best practices or attending annual conferences or engaging in our town hall meetings and things like that where that's one of the benefits of joining a franchise is you get this great knowledge base of people who live, breathe and eat this every day. And so you don't have to make those mistakes that they made. So I find that when they're engaged, if I said, what are the top three things that my successful franchisees do? Hands down? Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:28:05 I love that you just said that. That continuing education piece. The best practices, the collaboration amongst franchisees. There's a lot of people that ask me on a regular basis, you know, Lance, I'm not sure if a franchise is right for me. I might start my own thing. And I always tell people, this is America. You can start your own thing. You're going to be all by yourself on an island wearing all of the hats. Or you can join a franchise in a franchise system that has everything covered. And if you want extra help, you always have people to rely on. And if it's not corporate, so to speak, the franchise, or you have your fellow franchisees to reach out to, which is magic in this situation, you're reaching out to people that are worth a lot of money, that have made their families a lot of money and already built their empire. And you're essentially asking them for a hand up. Like, I'm sure a previous franchisee gave them a hand up and said, hey, do this, tweak this. Right?
Danessa 00:29:09 Yeah. And we hear that consistently from our franchisees as they continue to grow their business, they talk about the franchisee who help them on day one. And day ten and day 1000 that they've built these amazing relationships with them. Absolutely.
Lance Graulich 00:29:28 So what's on the horizon?
Danessa 00:29:30 Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:29:32 How many locations? What's the goal?
Danessa 00:29:35 It's, interesting. I came from a company like PMI where it was 100 a year. We were adding like, crazy bio, one little bit slower growth where territories, are a little bit different. But with that, also being strategic in how we're growing these, and adding to these areas, for us, our goal is to add 30 this year. We feel like that's sustainable, it's scalable. we are also rolling out technology. Cleaning business is low tech.
Lance Graulich 00:30:08 I'm glad you said that, because you mentioned that earlier, and I was like, I want you to share with the audience, what is that technology? And again, another thing you're not going to get when you're an independent business owner, trying to figure this out on your own.
Danessa 00:30:21 Right? Exactly. So, we're rolling out a new CRM, with that, we're 130 businesses, but that's still small. Right. And in comparison to some that have thousands of locations for us, we're 130. But we're big. We're also big. And so with that being able to pull that data, we've got lots of data out there that just is coming in through all sorts of different vehicles. And so what we're trying to do is systematize that be able to start generating reports back to the franchise network saying, hey, here are your benchmarks, here's what you compare, here's what our top 25%? This is what they're doing. Call them, talk to them, learn from them so being able to bring in and implement a CRM is a big piece. Being able to also provide that data back to them and help them understand what's normal. Am I normal? Am I falling behind? Or am I a superstar here? And how do I continue to get to the next level? Who do I need to talk to? So, as we look at the ability to scale businesses, I've talked to franchisees who use everything from post it notes and index cards to run their business to using some software. so we knew that there was some opportunity there, to continue to grow our websites, our digital presence. How do you leverage AI in a business that's about cleaning up crime scenes? but lots of opportunity to do that. Everything from content creation to being able to respond to, customers, and respond to reviews and things like that.
Lance Graulich 00:32:04 Vanessa, this has been awesome. Final thoughts for today? Final words of wisdom for the listeners.
Danessa 00:32:10 Yeah. from my standpoint, I think when you look at franchising, probably the biggest component of it is just the relationships that you build, whether it's with fellow franchisees, whether it's friendships with others in the industry. I think it is probably one of the biggest strengths of franchising is the ability for me to talk to other home. Service franchisors and pick their brain what worked. And so with that, you get the ability to leverage not just your own local network, but I get to leverage five Stars knowledge and I get to all of the franchising world's knowledge. And so being able to bring all of that, it allows us to do some really amazing things, which we're loving. It's a lot of work, but, we get a lot of gratification in seeing our franchisees grow.
Lance Graulich 00:33:05 I love it. Well, Danessa. Itaya Bio-One's. President. Thank you so much for being here and, look forward to chatting with you again soon. Awesome.
Danessa 00:33:14 Thanks, Lance, for the opportunity.
Lance Graulich 00:33:16 My pleasure. Thank you very much for listening today. Me please like, follow and subscribe. This is Lance Graulich. Until next time.